The present invention relates to a digital data producing system and, particularly, to a digital data producing system which can simply assign sets of digital data correlated with each other file names composed of, for example, a common character string and additional serial character that clarify the correlation between (among) the sets of correlated digital data correlated.
An autoradiography system using as a detecting material for detecting radiation a stimulable phosphor which can absorb, store and record the energy of radiation when it is irradiated with radiation and which, when it is then stimulated by an electromagnetic wave having a specified wavelength, can release stimulated emission whose light amount corresponds to the amount of radiation with which it was irradiated is known, which comprises the steps of introducing a radioactive labeling substance into an organism, using the organism or a part of the tissue of the organism as a specimen, superposing the specimen and a stimulable phosphor sheet formed with a stimulable phosphor layer for a certain period of time, storing and recording radiation energy in a stimulable phosphor contained in the stimulable phosphor layer, scanning the stimulable phosphor layer with an electromagnetic wave to excite the stimulable phosphor, photoelectrically detecting the stimulated emission released from the stimulable phosphor to produce digital image signals, effecting image processing on the obtained digital image signals, and reproducing an image on displaying means such as a CRT or the like or a photographic film (see, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-60784, Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-60782, Japanese Patent Publication No. 4-3952 and the like).
Unlike the system using a photographic film, according to the autoradiography system using the stimulable phosphor as a detecting material, development, which is chemical processing, becomes unnecessary. Further, it is possible reproduce a desired image by effecting image processing on the obtained image data and effect quantitative analysis using a computer. Use of a stimulable phosphor in these processes is therefore advantageous.
On the other hand, a fluorescence detecting system using a fluorescent substance as a labeling substance instead of a radioactive labeling substance in the autoradiography system is known. According to this system, it is possible to study a genetic sequence, to study the expression level of a gene, and to effect separation or identification of protein or estimation of the molecular weight or properties of protein or the like. For example, this system can perform a process including the steps of distributing a plurality of DNA fragments on a gel support by means of electrophoresis after a fluorescent dye was added to a solution containing a plurality of DNA fragments to be distributed, or distributing a plurality of DNA fragments on a gel support containing a fluorescent dye, or dipping a gel support on which a plurality of DNA fragments have been distributed by means of electrophoresis in a solution containing a fluorescent dye, thereby labeling the electrophoresed DNA fragments, exciting the fluorescent dye by a stimulating ray to cause it to release fluorescent light, detecting the released fluorescent light to produce an image and detecting the distribution of the DNA fragments on the gel support. This system can also perform a process including the steps of distributing a plurality of DNA fragments on a gel support by means of electrophoresis, denaturing the DNA fragments, transferring at least a part of the denatured DNA fragments onto a transfer support such as a nitrocellulose support by the Southern-blotting method, hybridizing a probe prepared by labeling target DNA and DNA or RNA complementary thereto with the denatured DNA fragments, thereby selectively labeling only the DNA fragments complementary to the probe DNA or probe RNA, exciting the fluorescent dye by a stimulating ray to cause it to release fluorescent light, detecting the released fluorescent light to produce an image and detecting the distribution of the target DNA on the transfer support. This system can further perform a process including the steps of preparing a DNA probe complementary to DNA containing a target gene labeled by a labeling substance, hybridizing it with DNA on a transfer support, combining an enzyme with the complementary DNA labeled by a labeling substance, causing the enzyme to contact a fluorescent substance, transforming the fluorescent substance to a fluorescent substance having fluorescent light releasing property, exciting the thus produced fluorescent substance by a stimulating ray to release fluorescent light, detecting the fluorescent light to produce an image and detecting the distribution of the target DNA on the transfer support. This fluorescence detecting system is advantageous in that a genetic sequence or the like can be easily detected without using a radioactive substance.
Further, a micro-array detecting system has been recently developed, which comprises the steps of using a spotting device to drop at different positions on the surface of a carrier such as a slide glass plate, a membrane filter or the like specific binding substances, which can specifically bind with a substance derived from a living organism such as a hormone, tumor marker, enzyme, antibody, antigen, abzyme, other protein, a nuclear acid, cDNA, DNA, RNA or the like and whose sequence, base length, composition and the like are known, thereby forming a number of independent spots, specifically binding the specific binding substances using a hybridization method or the like with a substance derived from a living organism such as a hormone, tumor marker, enzyme, antibody, antigen, abzyme, other protein, a nuclear acid, cDNA, DNA or mRNA, which is gathered from a living organism by extraction, isolation or the like or is further subjected to chemical processing, chemical modification or the like and which is labeled with a labeling substance such as a fluorescent substance, dye or the like, thereby forming a micro-array, irradiating the micro-array with a stimulating ray, photoelectrically detecting light such as fluorescence emitted from a labeling substance such as a fluorescent substance, dye or the like, and analyzing the substance derived from a living organism. This micro-array image detecting system is advantageous in that a substance derived from a living organism can be analyzed in a short time period by forming a number of spots of specific binding substances at different positions of the surface of a carrier such as a slide glass plate at high density and hybridizing them with a substance derived from a living organism and labeled with a labeling substance.
In the micro-array system, sets of digital data corresponding to a plurality of micro-arrays for biochemical analysis are produced by irradiating a plurality of micro-arrays prepared by hybridizing substances gathered from the same living organism or the same kind of living organisms with a specific binding substance spotted on the surface of a substrate such as a slide glass plate, a membrane filter or the like with a stimulating ray and photoelectrically detecting light such as fluorescence emission released from a labeling substance such as a fluorescent substance, a dye or the like and the sets of digital data are often stored in a memory of a computer or the like for effecting analysis later.
In such a case, the general practice is to assign data file names to the sets of digital data for biochemical analysis and the sets of digital data are stored in a memory of a computer but in the case where the sets of digital data are correlated with each other as in the case of sets of digital data produced from substances gathered from the same living organism or the same kind of living organisms, it is preferable for improving ease-of-use to assign a common data file name to the sets of digital data using a common character string and further assign symbols such as an additional character string or the like capable of clarifying the correlation between (among) the sets of digital data, thereby storing them in a memory of a computer.
However, it is extremely troublesome to enter a common character string in order to respectively assign a common data file name to the sets of digital data produced from substances gathered from the same living organism or the same kind of living organisms and further enter additional character strings or the like in order to clarify the correlation.
Particularly, since the data file names to be assigned to the sets of digital data for biochemical analysis produced from a plurality of micro-arrays have no specific meaning themselves, it lowers the efficiency of operation and the utility of the micro-array system to force the user to enter a common character string, additional character strings and the like.
A similar problem occurs not only in the micro-array system but also in the case of assigning a common data file name which has no specific meaning to sets of digital data correlated with each other using a common character string or the like, further assigning additional character strings thereto in order to clarify the correlation and storing them in a memory of a computer.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a digital data producing system which can simply assign to sets of digital data correlated with each other file names composed of a common character string plus an additional character string in order to clarify the correlation between (among) the sets of digital data correlated with each other.
The above and other objects of the present invention can be accomplished by a digital data producing system comprising input means, data saving means for saving sets of produced digital data, additional character string storing means for storing at least two sets of additional character strings, and data file name assigning means for assigning to the sets of produced digital data data file names produced by selecting one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means in accordance with instructions input through the input means when a naming rule is selected and adding members of the thus selected set of additional character strings to a basic data file name.
According to the present invention, a digital data producing system comprises input means, data saving means for saving sets of produced digital data, additional character string storing means for storing at least two sets of additional character strings, and data file name assigning means for assigning to the sets of produced digital data data file names produced by selecting one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means in accordance with instructions input through the input means when a naming rule is selected and adding members of the thus selected set of additional character strings to a basic data file name, and, therefore, file names composed of a common basic data file name and additional character strings can be assigned to sets of digital data correlated with each other by selecting the naming rule using the input means, entering a basic file name through the input means and selecting one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means. As a result, data file names can be simply assigned to sets of digital data correlated with each other so as to clarify the correlation between the sets of digital data.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, a data saving region having a data region name associated with the data file names is produced in the data saving means and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving region having an associated data region name.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since a data saving region having a data region name associated with the data file names is produced in the data saving means and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving region having an associated data region name, it is possible to easily retrieve the sets of digital data saved in the data saving means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to serially add, when a continuative assigning mode is selected by the input means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating the data file names and to assign the thus created data file names to the sets of produced digital data.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to serially add, when a continuative assigning mode is selected by the input means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions entered through the input means to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data file names and to assign the thus created data file names to the sets of produced digital data, it is possible to assign data file names having additional serial character strings to sets of digital data correlated with each other so as to clarify the correlation between the sets of digital data.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, when a continuative assigning mode is selected by the input means, defined data saving regions are serially created in the data saving means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means are serially added to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data region names and assigning them to the data saving regions and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving regions having data region names associated with the assigned data file names.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, when a continuative assigning mode is selected by the input means, defined data saving regions are serially created in the data saving means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through are serially added to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data region names and assigning them to the data saving regions and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving regions having data region names associated with the assigned data file names and, therefore, it is possible to save sets of digital data having a common basic data file name in a data saving region constituting a single folder or the like and to easily retrieve the sets digital data saved in the data saving means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to repeatedly with a predetermined unit of repetition and serially add, when a repetitive assigning mode is selected by the input means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data file names, and to assign the thus created data file names to the sets of produced digital data.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to repeatedly with a predetermined unit of repetition and serially add, when a repetitive assigning mode is selected by the input means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data file names, and to assign the thus created data file names to the sets of produced digital data, and, therefore, it is possible to simply assign data file names having repeated additional serial character strings with a predetermined unit of repetition to sets of digital data correlated with each other so as to clarify the correlation between the sets of.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, when a repetitive assigning mode is selected by the input means, defined data saving regions are serially created in the data saving means, members of the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means are repeatedly with a predetermined unit of repetition and serially added to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data region names and assigning them to the data saving regions, and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving regions having data region names associated with the assigned data file names.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, when a repetitive assigning mode is selected by the input means, defined data saving regions are serially created in the data saving means, members the set of additional character strings selected in accordance with instructions input through the input means are repeatedly with a predetermined unit of repetition and serially added to the basic data file name entered through the input means, thereby creating data region names and assigning them to the data saving regions, and the sets of digital data assigned the data file names are saved in the data saving regions having data region names associated with the assigned data file names and, therefore, it is possible to save sets of digital data having a common basic data file name in the data saving regions included in a single folder or the like and to easily retrieve the sets of digital data saved in the data saving means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to create data file names in accordance with data file names entered through the input means and assign the thus created data file names to the sets of produced digital data when a naming rule is not selected.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, a data saving region having the same data region name as a basic data file name is created in the data saving means for each basic data file name entered through the input means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the digital data producing system further comprises a display means and the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means are displayed on the display means when the naming rule is selected.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the digital data producing system further comprises a display means and the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means are displayed on the display means when the naming rule is selected, it is possible to very easily select additional character strings to be assigned to a basic data file name and assign the thus selected additional character strings to the sets of produced produced digital data together with the basic data file name.
In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the input means is constituted so as to select one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings displayed on the display means.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the input means is constituted so as to select one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings displayed on the display means, it is possible to very easily select additional character strings to be assigned to a basic data file name and assign the thus selected additional character strings to the sets of produced digital data together with the basic data file name.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, a warning is displayed on the display means when the same basic data file name as one already entered through the input means is entered through the input means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the input means is constituted of a keyboard and a mouse, the basic data file name is entered through the keyboard and stored in the additional character string storing means, an additional character string selection signal is input to the data file name assigning means when the one set of additional character strings is selected by the mouse from among the at least two sets of additional character strings, and the data file name assigning means selects the one set of additional character strings from among the at least sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means, adds them to the basic data file name to create data file names and assigns them to the sets of produced digital data.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the input means is constituted of a keyboard and a mouse, the basic data file name is entered through the keyboard and stored in the additional character string storing means, an additional character string selection signal is input to the data file name assigning means when the one one of additional character strings is selected by the mouse from among the at least two sets of additional character strings, and the data file name assigning means selects the one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings stored in the additional character string storing means, adds them to the basic data file name to create data file names and assigns them to the sets of produced digital data and, therefore, additional character strings to be added to a basic data file name can be selected merely by selecting one set of additional character strings from among the at least two sets of additional character strings displayed on the display means by the mouse and it is possible to very easily assign the basic data file name and the additional character strings to the sets of produced digital data.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to add the additional character strings to the terminal end of the basic data file name entered through the input means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to add the additional character strings to the front end of the basic data file name entered through the input means.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the digital data producing system further comprises at least one laser stimulating ray source for emitting a laser beam, a sample stage on which at least one sample containing a labeling substance is to be placed, scanning means for moving the sample stage so that the sample placed on the sample stage can be scanned with the laser beam emitted from the at least one laser stimulating ray source, a light detector for photoelectrically detecting light released from the labeling substance contained in the sample upon being scanned with the laser beam emitted from the at least one laser stimulating ray source and excited thereby and producing analog data, and an A/D converter for digitizing the analog data produced by the light detector to produce digital data, and the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to add a designation indicating wavelength of the laser beam scanning the sample to the basic data file name entered through the input means or a data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means to create a final data file name and assign the final data file name to the set of digital data produced by the A/D converter.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the digital data producing system further comprises at least one laser stimulating ray source for emitting a laser beam, a sample stage on which a sample carrier holding at least one sample containing a labeling substance is to be placed, scanning means for moving the sample stage so that the sample placed on the sample stage can be scanned with the laser beam emitted from the at least one laser stimulating ray source, a light detector for photoelectrically detecting light released from the labeling substance contained in the sample upon being scanned with the laser beam emitted from the at least one laser stimulating ray source and excited thereby and producing analog data, and an A/D converter for digitizing the analog data produced by the light detector to produce digital data, and the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to add a designation indicating wavelength of the laser beam scanning the sample to the basic data file name entered through the input means or a data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means to create a final data file name and assign the final data file name to the set of digital data produced by the A/D converter and, therefore, the final data file name is created by adding the designation indicating wavelength of the laser beam used for scanning the sample to the basic data file name or the data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name and is assigned to the set of produced digital data. As a result, sets of digital data saved in the data saving means can be easily retrieved.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the set of digital data assigned the final data file name created by adding the designation indicating wavelength of the laser beam used for scanning the sample to the basic data file name entered through the input means or the data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means is saved in a data saving region having a data region name associated with the basic file name entered through the input means or the data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, the set of digital data assigned the final data file name created by adding the designation indicating wavelength of the laser beam used for scanning the sample to the basic data file name entered through the input means or the data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means is saved in a data saving region having a data region name associated with the basic file name entered through the input means or the data file name created by adding a member of the set of additional character strings to the basic data file name entered through the input means and, therefore, sets of digital data saved in the data saving means can be easily retrieved.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the digital data producing system comprises two or more laser stimulating ray sources for emitting laser beams having different wavelengths.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to assign data file names that differ only in the designations indicating wavelengths of the laser beams to the sets of produced digital data when the same sample is scanned with the laser beams having different wavelengths.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the data file name assigning means is constituted so as to assign data file names that differ only in the designations indicating wavelengths of the laser beams to the sets of produced digital data when the same sample is scanned with the laser beams having different wavelengths from each other, sets of digital data saved in the data saving means can be easily retrieved.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the sample carrier is constituted so as to carry a plurality of the samples and the number of members in the set of additional character strings in a unit of repetition is set equal to the number of the samples to be carried by the sample carrier.
According to this preferred aspect of the present invention, since the sample carrier is constituted so as to carry a plurality of the samples and the number of members in the set of additional character strings in a unit of repetition is set equal to the number of the samples to be carried by the sample carrier, sets of digital data saved in the data saving means can be easily retrieved.
In a further preferred aspect of the present invention, the sample is constituted as a micro-array in which a plurality of spots selectively labeled with a fluorescent dye are formed on a slide glass plate.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description made with reference to the accompanying drawings.